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05-02-2020, 05:59 PM
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Ashtavakra Gita
Translated by Bart Marshall
https://www.holybooks.com/wp-content...Gita-ebook.pdf
I'm reading a different translation by Thomas Byrom - "The Heart of Awareness". It's said it is not as literal a translation, but more poetic in the sense of an English translation.
I thought it would be interesting to post several verses now and then as juxtaposition to the more literal translation by Bart Marshall.
1.1 - O Master,
Tell me how to find
Detachment, wisdom, and freedom!
1.2 - Child,
If you wish to be free,
Shun the poison of the senses,
Seek the nectar of truth,
Of love and forgiveness,
Simplicity and happiness.
1.3 - Earth, fire and water,
The wind and the sky-
You are none of these.
If you wish to be free,
Know you are the Self,
The witness of all these,
The heart of awareness.
1.4 - Set your body aside.
Sit in your own awareness.
You will at once be happy,
Forever still,
Forever free.
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06-02-2020, 02:14 AM
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Master
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: Delhi, India
Posts: 11,039
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__________________
The Self has no attribute
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06-02-2020, 03:27 AM
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Thanks JASG
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06-02-2020, 05:24 PM
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Master
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Golden Bay, New Zealand
Posts: 3,580
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I like the translation by Hari Prasad Shastri which I came across some 40 years ago.
The above four verses are rendered as:
1. Janaka said:
O Lord, tell me this: How does a man acquire Knowledge of Truth, and how liberation, and how the practice of renunciation?
2. Ashtavakra said:
O Friend! If thy aim in life is liberation, then shun sense objects as poison, and pursue as nectar, forgiveness, simplicity of life, compassion, contentment, and truth.
3. Thou art neither earth, water, fire, air, nor ether. Know thy Self (Atman) as Witness of all these, and different from them, if thou would’st attain liberation.
4. If, detaching thyself from thy sense of identity with the body, thou remains at rest in Intelligence, thine will be spontaneous bliss, eternal peace, and liberation from the imagined bondage.
And later in the same chapter:
12. The Self is the witness, all-pervading, perfect, free, one, consciousness, actionless, not attached to any object, desireless, ever-tranquil. It appears through illusion as the world.
13. Always contemplate the ever-fixed Intelligence, the non-dual Atman. Giving up all inner and outer identification of the Self with the non-self, abandon the notion of the individualized self.
14. O Child, the net of self-identification with the body has held thee imprisoned long enough. With the sword of the Knowledge, “I am Intelligence,” cut this illusion and be blissful.
15. Thou art wholly independent, actionless, self-luminous and without fault. Thy bondage is that thou deemest thyself to be liberated through the practice of Samadhi.
16. The Universe is pervaded by thee and exists in thee. Verily, by nature thou art Consciousness Absolute. Do not harbor narrowness of heart and think thyself to be otherwise.
17. Free art thou from modifications. Independent, calm, without dimension or form, imperturbable, thy nature unimaginable Intelligence. Know thyself to be pure Consciousness.
18. Know all that has form to be unreal, and the formless to be the Self. By means of this Knowledge, thou shalt avoid the possibility of rebirth.
Peace
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08-02-2020, 05:47 AM
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Thank you so kindly for transcribing this for us, iamthat.
It's always so lovely, beautiful, peaceful to read you, feel your presence.
Thank you for gracing us with your kind wisdom here.
Namaste,
JL
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12-02-2020, 03:34 PM
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Master
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: Delhi, India
Posts: 11,039
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***
“The body is strained by practices
The tongue tires of scripture
The mind numbs with meditation
Detached from all this,
I live as I am”
***
__________________
The Self has no attribute
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17-02-2020, 11:32 PM
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Master
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Arizona, U.S.A
Posts: 3,454
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According to the entry in Wikipedia:
"Ashtavakra Gita is a dialogue between Ashtavakra and Janaka on the nature of soul, reality and bondage.[9] It offers a radical version of non-dualistic philosophy. The Gita insists on the complete unreality of external world and absolute oneness of existence. It does not mention any morality or duties, and therefore is seen by commentators as 'godless'. It also dismisses names and forms as unreal and a sign of ignorance."
According to the people who wrote this, it is only a version of non-dualistic philosophy, by no means agreed on as MAIN-stream non-dualistic philosophy by all non-dualists, of which 'group' I consider myself one.
It is for those who want to think that they and others around them and our world are just fictional figments of their and others' imaginations, I guess.
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17-02-2020, 11:50 PM
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Master
Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: Arizona, U.S.A
Posts: 3,454
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Quote:
Originally Posted by davidsun
According to the entry in Wikipedia:
"Ashtavakra Gita is a dialogue between Ashtavakra and Janaka on the nature of soul, reality and bondage.[9] It offers a radical version of non-dualistic philosophy. ..."
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Speaking of 'radical' versions of philosophies, if you think of people who believe 'radical' versions of what's in The Bible or The Quran, you will know why people who are 'devoted' or 'dedicated' to what's put forth in the Ashtavakra Gita gives me the heeby-jeebies.
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18-02-2020, 12:29 AM
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Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Southwest, USA
Posts: 25,098
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Thanks- I love this Swami - what he says is a great reminder to me...I will repeat - since 5 yr old I had an exp
of another 'consciousness' looking out of my eyes --and it was no 5 yr old! Then at 8 the exp (as I was stunned having the exp) that
everything we see is a dream...made of dream stuff.
And I have had this exp many more times that if my eyes are open I am seeing nothing that is real. (And not on drugs!)
This is a wonderful thing for me - because I know what is Real now.
Ha, then later as an adult I found out about quantum physics - yay - I knew it.
Ah, life is such fun!!!
__________________
.*I'll text in Navy Blue when I'm speaking as a Mod. :)
Prepare yourself for the coming astral journey of death by daily riding in the balloon of God-perception.
Through delusion you are perceiving yourself as a bundle of flesh and bones, which at best is a nest of troubles.
Meditate unceasingly, that you may quickly behold yourself as the Infinite Essence, free from every form of misery. ~Paramahansa's Guru's Guru.
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